INTRAINDIVIDUAL VARIABILITY ACROSS ADULTHOOD: DIVERSITY, VARIETY, AND ADHERENCE AS KEY INDICATORS OF DAILY LIFE

Abstract Alongside long-term change, lifespan theories highlight the importance of examining intraindividual variability (the fluctuations that occur in daily and momentary life) as an indicator of dynamic characteristics, like plasticity or rigidity. The present symposium demonstrates five unique characterizations and implications of variability in daily life across the adult lifespan. Paper 1 demonstrates that greater social activity variety is linked to lower mortality risk over 11 years, and this effect is stronger for older adults. Paper 2 finds that consistent adherence to health behaviors in daily life is linked to better cognitive function in midlife adults. Paper 3 finds that middle-aged adults experience greater diversity in types of positive events in daily life (positive event diversity) compared to older adults, and positive event diversity is associated with higher positive affect. Paper 4 establishes that positive affect with high mean levels and high variability (fragile high positive affect) is associated with greater odds of depression 10 years later. Lastly, Paper 5 demonstrates that although the spread of stressor types experienced in daily life (stressor diversity) declines with age across both cohorts, the types of stressors experienced in modern life differ from those experienced 18 years prior. Together, findings demonstrate how variability in daily life changes across age and has implications for health and well-being of older adults. Dr. Susan Charles will critically discuss these contributions to our understanding of aging in the context of Strength and Vulnerability Integration Theory and provide considerations for understanding the complexity of daily life across the lifespan.

1986).The mean DS score was 1.6 (SD=1.6).Considering a cut-off ≥2 (Brañez-Condorena et al., 2021), 75 (43.9%)centenarians were screened positive for possible depression.Further analysis indicated that women had a higher level of DS, and that nursing home residents were more depressed than community-dwelling centenarians.Thus, our study suggests that almost half of the centenarians may have presented with relevant DS during the pandemic in Switzerland, which is notably higher than in other studies.DS in centenarians should be screened systematically, not less so in the context of a health crisis.Depressive symptomatology in the very old is highly relevant for successful professional care and needs further investigation to develop best practice.
States, 2. The University of Texas at Austin,Austin,Texas,United States,3. Seoul National University,Seoul,Republic of Korea,4. University of Lausanne,Lausanne,Vaud,Switzerland Population aging has given rise to an increasingly common new group of caregivers, older adult children caring for their very old parents.These caregivers often find themselves balancing several other roles and responsibilities on top of caring for their parent, such as navigating their own health issues, caring for grandchildren, or transitioning into retirement.When a parent has dementia, this presents an additional challenge to caregivers, especially given that most persons with dementia exhibit behavioral and psychological symptoms of dementia (BPSD).The goal of the present research was to examine the range of strategies older caregivers employ in their daily lives in response to parents' BPSD, using applied thematic analysis.Specifically, we sought to identify and describe the different caregiver strategies for managing BPSD and examine how these strategies are connected, including whether certain strategies co-occur.We conducted in-depth interviews with 100 caregivers (aged 65+) caring for parents with dementia (aged 90+) as part of the Boston Aging Together Study.Results revealed seven strategies used by child caregivers in managing BPSD-including "setting the record straight," "going along with it," distracting and redirecting, ignoring, telling "fiblets" or lies, medicating their parent to alleviate symptoms, and altering their physical environment.The most frequently co-occurring strategies employed by child caregivers included telling "fiblets" or lies as well as distracting and redirecting.This study has the potential to inform future caregiver interventions aimed at effectively addressing BPSD and improving quality of life for older child caregivers and their very old parents with dementia.

INTRAINDIVIDUAL VARIABILITY ACROSS ADULTHOOD: DIVERSITY, VARIETY, AND ADHERENCE AS KEY INDICATORS OF DAILY LIFE
Chair: Rachel Koffer Co-Chair: Soomi Lee Discussant: Susan Charles Alongside long-term change, lifespan theories highlight the importance of examining intraindividual variability (the fluctuations that occur in daily and momentary life) as an indicator of dynamic characteristics, like plasticity or rigidity.The present symposium demonstrates five unique characterizations and implications of variability in daily life across the adult lifespan.Paper 1 demonstrates that greater social activity variety is linked to lower mortality risk over 11 years, and this effect is stronger for older adults.Paper 2 finds that consistent adherence to health behaviors in daily life is linked to better cognitive function in midlife adults.Paper 3 finds that middle-aged adults experience greater diversity in types of positive events in daily life (positive event diversity) compared to older adults, and positive event diversity is associated with higher positive affect.Paper 4 establishes that positive affect with high mean levels and high variability (fragile high positive affect) is associated with greater odds of depression 10 years later.Lastly, Paper 5 demonstrates that although the spread of stressor types experienced in daily life (stressor diversity) declines with age across both cohorts, the types of stressors experienced in modern life differ from those experienced 18 years prior.Together, findings demonstrate how variability in daily life changes across age and has implications for health and well-being of older adults.Dr. Susan Charles will critically discuss these contributions to our understanding of aging in the context of Strength and Vulnerability Integration Theory and provide considerations for understanding the complexity of daily life across the lifespan.

THE GOOD OLD DAYS?: LATER-BORN COHORTS REPORT DIFFERENT STRESSORS IN DAILY LIFE COMPARED TO EARLIER-BORN COHORTS Rachel Koffer, Arizona State University, Phoenix, Arizona, United States
In addition to the total amount of exposure to stressors in daily life, the types of stressors experienced (e.g., work stress, arguments), and the relative spread of the stressor types experienced (stressor diversity) is key to emotional and physical well-being across adulthood and aging.While daily stress processes and their links to health and well-being have been studied extensively, historical changes in daily stress processes have been largely unexplored.To examine secular trends in the types of daily stressors experienced across adulthood, we use data from two independent cohorts of the National Study of Daily Experiences surveyed 18 years apart (1995/1996 cohort: n = 1,499 adults aged 20 to 74 years; 2013/2014 cohort: n = 782 adults aged 25 to 75, stratified by age and gender to match the 1995-96 cohort).General linear models are used to test cohort differences in total stressor exposure, exposure to specific types of stressors, and stressor diversity, all controlling for age, income relative to cohort, education relative to cohort, gender, and chronic conditions.While the 2013/2014 cohort experience higher exposure to stressors in daily life than the 1995/1996 cohort, the cohorts experience the same stressor diversity, which decreases with older age.The specific stressor types experienced differ by cohort: adults in 2013/2014 report more arguments, avoided arguments, and work stressors, but less discrimination stressors and "other" stressors than in 1995/1996.These results highlight the sociohistorical embedding of daily stressor experiences.Sociodemographic differences and implications for future research and clinical practice are discussed.

PARTICIPATION IN DIVERSE SOCIAL ACTIVITIES IS ASSOCIATED WITH LOW MORTALITY RISK
Sangha Jeon 1 , Nicholas Turiano 2 , and Susan Charles 1 , 1. University of California,Irvine,Irvine,California,United States,2. West Virginia University,Morgantown,West Virginia,United States Social activity is often associated with better physical health outcomes.Yet, less is known about specific qualities of social activity beyond its frequency, such as whether engagement in diverse social activities (social activity variety) is important for health.The current study assessed whether social activity variety, which was calculated as the number of different types of social activity, relates to mortality risk beyond non-social activity variety and how its relationship varies depending on age groups.Using data from the Health and Retirement Study (HRS), we included 5,559 adults who completed a questionnaire on social activity participation in 2008 and whose mortality status was recorded in 2019.We also examined whether age was related to the relationship between social activity variety and mortality risk.Cox proportional hazard model analyses revealed that those with higher social activity variety were more likely to survive over the following 11 year than those with low social activity variety.This result remains robust when adjusting for health status and non-social activity variety.The association of social activity variety with mortality risk is significant across all age, but it is stronger in older adults compared to young adults.Findings suggest that social activity variety is beneficial for longevity beyond non-social activities and health status across adulthood.Healthy life habits cannot be formed overnight; therefore, adherence to optimal sleep, physical activity, and healthy eating behaviors is vital.This paper examined the relationship between the adherence rate of the three key health behaviors (i.e., sleep, physical activity, and healthy diet) and cognitive function in adulthood.Data were retrieved from Midlife in the United States third wave (MIDUS 3) Project 2, National Study of Daily Experiences (n=1,061).For eight consecutive days, participants reported nightly sleep duration, daily amount of physical activity, and daily consumption of fast food.Adherence rates of health behaviors were calculated by the sum of having optimal sleep (6 < sleep hours ≤ 9), any intensity of physical activity (60 min.≤),and not eating fast food (yes/no) across the study period.Participants also completed a Brief Test of Adult Cognition by Telephone (BTACT).A series of general linear models examined the associations of the three adherence variables with the overall BTACT cognition score adjusting for sociodemographic and health covariates.Greater adherence rates of optimal sleep (=0.02;SE=0.01; p=0.01), physical activity (=0.03;SE=0.01; p<0.01 ), and not eating fast food (=0.02;SE=0.01; p=0.02) were each and associated with higher BTACT score.Among the three adherence variables, adherence to physical activity was the most important for cognition independent of other health behaviors.Consistent associations were found for executive function, but not episodic memory.These findings suggest that adults with greater adherence to a healthy lifestyle have better cognitive function, and consistency of healthy behaviors is vital for cognitive health.